Chapter 10: How to Use NP

Three weeks have passed since the day I ate Japanese food in another world.

My daily routine consists of working on the farm and playing a bit in the woods behind the house before evening.

Sheila-san is still as lively as ever, and seeing her enjoy herself is my only solace.

I’ve decided to cook Japanese food once a week, using it as motivation to make my days meaningful.

By the way, my current NP balance is 3,576 NP.

The vegetables grow at an incredible pace, allowing me to harvest them five days after planting.

Since I plant them in sections covering a quarter of the field at a time, I earn about 250 NP on four out of every five days.

Thanks to that, I can afford to spend around 500 NP on ingredients every seven days, yet I still have 3,576 NP left.

Sheila-san has grown very fond of Japanese cuisine, so I could increase the frequency of cooking it… but I also want to try enhancing my abilities or even purchasing a monster.

Now, which should I prioritize: ability enhancement or monster acquisition?

Sitting on my bed, I folded my arms and pondered.

The ability I want to enhance is farmland expansion.

Currently, I harvest crops on four out of five days, but with expanded farmland, I could harvest every day.

Although upgrading soil quality or expanding the variety of seeds is also tempting, farmland expansion is the top priority.

Upgrading farmland size, soil quality, or growth speed all cost 3,000 NP per level.

Since I have 3,576 NP, I could afford an upgrade, but…

Spending NP on ability enhancements would limit the monsters I can purchase.

The monster I want most is the Silver Wolf, which costs 5,000 NP.

Judging by the picture, it’s a very cool-looking monster, and Sheila-san mentioned it’s quite strong.

Considering that Sheila-san might leave someday, I urgently need a monster to act as a guard.

The Silver Wolf would be perfect for both guarding and scouting. Plus, let’s face it, its coolness is the most important factor.

The only downside is the likely cost of feeding it, but I’ll just have to overlook that.

Aside from the Silver Wolf, I’m also interested in plant-type monsters like the Soil Sylph and Matango.

Both seem capable of assisting with farm work and would be invaluable for labour if Sheila-san leaves.

The downside, however, is their lack of combat ability, which is a serious drawback for a guard.

Additionally, they’re quite expensive—Matango costs 6,000 NP, and the Soil Sylph is a whopping 10,000 NP, far beyond my reach for now.

Other candidates include the Giant Earthworm and Aqua Frog.

These two also seem helpful for farm work and are relatively affordable at 3,000 NP each, but their appearance is a major downside.

Recently, deciding how to use NP has been occupying my thoughts, but it’s a bit like the early stages of an RPG, which I don’t mind at all.

Lying on the bed, I kept thinking and finally made my decision.

First and foremost—I want to increase my NP income.

So, I’ll spend 3,000 NP on farmland enhancement.

I can’t completely give up on a companion monster, though, so I’ll buy either a slime or a goblin, the cheapest options available.

The goblin seems more likely to help with various tasks.

But… slimes are undeniably cuter.

After a brief moment of hesitation, I decided to go with the slime.

If they’re both cheap, it probably means neither will be particularly useful.

In that case, I might as well prioritize cuteness.

With that, I had finalized my plan for spending the accumulated NP.

I immediately headed to the field to enhance my farmland and purchase the monster.

The sun had just risen, and the air was still a bit chilly.

Rubbing my arms for warmth, I opened the device and began with the enhancement.

I tapped “Farmland Enhancement” and then tapped “Purchase.” The transaction was completed easily.

The farmland enhancement level changed from Lv1 to Lv2.

And as soon as the upgrade was reflected on the device, the field before me expanded significantly.

It was now about twice its previous size.

For just 3,000 NP, this was a great deal.

Grinning, I checked the farmland enhancement option again.

If upgrading from Lv2 to Lv3 costs the same, I’ll save up 3,000 NP again for an immediate purchase. But, of course, it wasn’t that simple.

The cost to upgrade farmland from Lv2 to Lv3 had risen from 3,000 NP to 30,000 NP.

Upgrading to Lv3 would likely cost even more, so my immediate goal is to raise soil quality and growth speed to Lv2.

Setting that silent goal, I turned to purchase a slime.

I selected the slime from the monster menu, chose the quantity, and tapped “Purchase.”

Excitedly, I waited—and before me appeared a sphere of water-like substance.

It was probably the slime I had just purchased.

Unlike the cute slimes from Dragon Quest, it really was just a wobbly blob of water.

It didn’t look alive at all, and it was far from what I had imagined, but… this was my first monster companion.

The slime wobbled toward me slowly, and when it reached me, it began bouncing up and down.

Though I initially found it inorganic and unappealing, its attempt to engage with me suddenly made it seem cute.

I wasn’t sure if it could understand me, but I decided to give it a name anyway.

“Your name will be… Lime. Nice to meet you from today onward.”

Since I couldn’t tell whether it was male or female, I gave it a gender-neutral name.

When I bowed my head to Lime, it mimicked me by flattening itself against the ground.

It’s a bit different from having a dog or cat, but Lime still feels like a pet—and undeniably adorable.

It seems to have some level of intelligence, so I’ll make sure to take good care of Lime from now on.

“I wonder what Lime eats. It’s probably not the same food as humans… right?”

I started wondering if this world sells something like “slime food.”

Or maybe it eats fodder or something similar?

There’s a chance it doesn’t eat anything, but if it’s alive, it’s unlikely to not require any food.

As I folded my arms, deep in thought, Lime slowly began heading toward the villa.

I followed Lime, who was making an effort to move forward, and saw it stop near a pile of garbage a short distance from the villa.

Since this area is far from any towns, it’s hard to manage waste, so the trash has been piling up like this.

I’d been planning to arrange a cart soon to take the garbage to a disposal site, but Lime approached the pile of trash and covered one of the bags with its body.

Could this mean the garbage is food for Lime?

I couldn’t say for sure since we can’t communicate, but given Lime’s actions following our earlier conversation, that seems to be the case.

I hadn’t intended this at all, but if Lime can eat garbage, that would be incredibly helpful.

I crouched next to Lime, watching it devour the garbage bag, when Sheila-san came out of the house.

At first, she wore her usual cheerful expression, but as soon as she noticed the slime next to me, her expression changed dramatically. She rushed toward me at an incredible speed.

I immediately realized she was misunderstanding the situation, but Sheila-san was moving too fast.

“Sato-san, step away immediately!”
“Sheila-san, stop!!”

Just as she lunged forward and reached for her sword’s hilt, she finally stopped.

That was close… Lime was seconds away from being sliced in half.

“Sato-san, what’s going on? It may look harmless, but that’s still a monster!”

It’s fine. I know that. This slime is my familiar.”

“Your… familiar? W-What do you mean by that?”

Sheila-san looked completely bewildered, while Lime, oblivious to how close it came to being killed, continued munching on the trash in its usual carefree manner.

Taking a deep breath, I decided to explain everything to Sheila-san.

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